When you see people at the office using such Internet sites as Facebook, you might suspect those workers are slacking off. But that's not the case at U.S. intelligence agencies, where bosses are encouraging their staffs to use a new social-networking site designed for the secret world of spying.

The results are in for eSchool News' Empowered Education Awards (EEA)--and three teams of talented students and their teachers are preparing for a trip to remember. With personal tours, catered cuisine, and the chance to speak with their congressional representatives, these award-winning teams will get a grand tour of Washington, D.C.--the place where ideas sometimes meet action.

PC Magazine, in consultation with the Princeton Review, has published a list of what it calls "America’s top wired colleges," and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tops the list.

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Introducing the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, a new notebook designed just for 1:1 computing programs. It's scaled down in size and weight, but it's huge in features--including one of the biggest keyboards in its class, an 8.9" diagonal screen and wireless capability. Learn more now.

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If you're looking for a fun game for young children on the Nintendo Wii, "Pajama Sam: Don't Fear the Dark" fits the bill.

While EA Sports' "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09" is similar to last year's golf simulation, the folks at Florida's EA Tiburon studio have added a golf cart-full of new features and improvements to justify the purchase.

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Tino Schaedler is an architect-turned-digital design artist. His work with 3D graphics and digital set design has been groundbreaking, including work for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking public comment on a number of proposed changes to the list of eligible services for the e-Rate, the $2.25 billion-a-year program that provides discounts on telecommunications services to schools and libraries. The proposed changes would broaden the list of eligible services in some areas; comments are due Sept. 18.

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For the past year and a half, students at Broad Creek Middle School in Newport, N.C., have used virtual reality technology to enhance their reading skills across the board--and the evidence suggests these efforts are paying off.

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In 1840, a young Whig organizer named Abraham Lincoln wrote the guidebook on political field work. His "confidential" circular advised Whig campaign operatives to "make a perfect list of all the voters and ascertain with certainty for whom they will vote."

The decision by Comcast--the nation's second largest broadband-service provider (after AT&T)--to set an official limit on the amount of data that residential subscribers can download and upload each month could affect students who learn from home or live off campus, ed-tech observers say.

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